Page 68 of Mail-Order Lady

“What do you think it means?” Her voice held genuine curiosity, not judgment.

Once more, it took a moment to gather the threads of his thoughts. “I think it means Enoch won’t have to be duke.” He paused to let the weight of that settle. “Which should be a relief to him. He’s never wanted the title. None of us have. But Enoch especially.”

“But?”

How did she always know when there was more he wasn’t saying?

“But it also means we don’t know Nathan. Not really. He could be our brother by blood, but he’s still a stranger in every way that matters.” Saying that aloud felt like exposing a wound he’d been trying to keep covered. “What if he takes the title and sells the estate? What if he decides we’re not worth his time once he has what he came for?”

Clara’s fingers tightened on his arm. “Do you think he would do that?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know him.”

The man had appeared with a story and a letter, and they’d been forced to accept it as truth because Father confirmed it.

But what did that confirmation really mean? That he carried their father’s blood. Beyond that?

“He seems...” Clara hesitated, like she was searching for the right word. “Lost, maybe. Like he doesn’t quite know how to fit into any of this.”

Robert glanced at her. The moonlight had grown stronger as the last of the sunset faded, and it illuminated the curve of her cheek and the loose strands of hair at her temple.

She shifted closer, and now her arm brushed his. More warmth spread through him, and he tucked her a little closer. “The way he watches everyone at meals. How he waits to see what others do before he does anything himself. It’s like...” She paused again. “Like he’s trying to learn a language he was never taught. Like he wants desperately to belong, but thinks he has to earn it first.”

Robert’s middle tightened. He’d noticed some of that—the way Nathan’s gaze swept the room constantly, never quite resting on anything. The careful deliberateness of his movements. But he hadn’t put it together the way Clara just did.

She sucked in a long breath and let it out, like she was savoring the fresh air. They should do this more often. Just the two of them.

“Do you think God sent Nathan here?”

He glanced down at her. That wasn’t at all the question he’d expected.

He took a moment to contemplate the best answer. Clara hadn’t talked much about faith, though she’d mentioned her family’s church back in Columbia. She respected God, this he knew, but he’d not been able to tell for certain if she really knew the Father. If He was more than a distant supreme Being.

This was a chance to open the conversation for more later. Hopefully.

“I think God has a plan for each of our lives, though He also gives us free will. Whether He specifically sent Nathan to us or not, I believe God is using His presence here to accomplish the work God is doing in each of us.”

She glanced up at him again, but once more the shadows hid both her eyes and her thoughts. “Even in you?”

The question wrapped around his ribs and squeezed. God might be trying to use the situation to teach him something, but he’d not been paying close attention lately.

I’m sorry, Lord.

Maybe that was exactly the role God planned for Nathan to play in Robert’s life…to get his attention. To bring his focus heavenward again.

He let out a sigh. “Probably especially in me.” Could he leave it at that, or did he need to expound on his faults?

Clara still looked up at him. Waiting.

He forced out more details. “I… I’ve been neglecting time in my Bible. Maybe not talking with Him as much as I’d like.”

She still hadn’t dropped her focus from his face, but maybe he’d said enough. At least until she gave a hint of her thoughts to give him direction for what more might need to be said.

“I’ve never known people who talked to God the way you and the others here do.” Her voice sounded almost wistful. “Like you really know Him.”

Give me the right words, Lord.

“We do know Him. All of us spend time in the Bible. We don’t always get it right, but do our best to let God guide our actions. I think...” He paused, trying to find words that wouldn’t sound preachy or hollow. “I think most people talk about God like He’s far away. Someone you have to reach up to, or Someone who only shows up when you’re perfect.”